Motor function rehabilitation system and method

Abstract

System and method for use in improving individual's motion ability are disclosed. A force applying device is used to apply a force to at least portion of the individual's body during an exercise performed by the individual. A sensing system monitors one or more training sessions of the exercise performed and selectively generate first measurement data comprising error-related data and second measurement data indicative of adaptive response of the individual to the force applied to the exercised body portion. A force controller can be used to manage operation of the force applying device according to operational data, such that the force being applied to the exercised body portion includes at least one of an interfering force segment or an assistive force segment, determined in accordance with a predetermined range of an error regulating profile.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for use in improving individual's motion ability, the system comprising:
 a force applying device configured to controllably apply adaptable forces in real-time to at least portion of the individual's body during an exercise performed by the individual;   a sensing system configured to monitor one or more training sessions of the exercise performed by said at least portion of the individual's body and selectively generate first measurement data comprising error-related data indicative of deviations of said at least portion of the individual's body from a desired trajectory, velocity and/or acceleration, and/or second measurement data indicative of adaptive response of the individual to the force applied to said at least portion of the individual's body; and   a control system configured for data communication with the sensing system and with the force applying device, the control system comprising:
 a force controller configured to manage operation of the force applying device according to operational data such that the force being applied to the at least portion of the individual's body includes at least one interfering force segment for which error augmenting forces are applied in real-time by the force applying device, determined in accordance with a predetermined range of an error regulating profile and direction, velocity and/or acceleration, of motion applied by the at least portion of the individual's body and derived from the first and/or the second measurement data from the sensing system; 
 an analyzer configured to selectively perform in real-time the following: (i) provide force adjustment data indicative of a maximal applicable force value for said error regulating profile, based at least partially on individual-related data in association with the exercise; (ii) analyze at least one of the first and second measurement data to determine an average error value and determine based on said average error value at least one slope of an error-augmenting function or of an error-correcting function of the error regulating profile, and generate the operational data to the force controller accordingly. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the analyzer is configured to determine based on the analyzed measurement data one or more average error values and respective one or more local maximal forces applied by the at least portion of the individual's body and/or an optimal adaptive force response of the individual to the exercise thereby performed, and determine based thereon at least one slope of an error-augmenting function or of an error-correcting function of the error regulating profile. 
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising at least one sensor device configured for determining a motion pattern characterizing the individual's performance of the training session, and, upon identifying an error in said motion pattern, measuring the error and generating the first measurement data comprising the error-related data. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the sensing system comprising at least one of the following: a positioning sensor device, a velocity sensor device; an acceleration sensor device, a force sensor device, an ammeter configured to measure electric current of an electric motor in the force applying device, electromyograph (EMG), surface EMG, and/or intramuscular EMG, configured to determine patterns characterizing the individual's performance of the training session. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing system comprises one or more sensors configured to determine a response force of said at least portion of the individual's body to the force being applied thereto and generate the second measurement data indicative of adaptive response of the individual. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein said one or more sensors are configured to directly measure the response force of said at least portion of the individual's body to the force being applied thereto and/or measure the response force via its effect on one or more parameters or conditions of an operative device being operated by the individual during the training session. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the error regulating profile comprises at least one of the following: at least one error augmenting portion defining a range of error values associated with the exercise performed by the at least portion of the individual's body, for which error augmenting forces are applied by the force applying device; at least one error correcting portion defining a range of error values associated with the exercise performed by the at least portion of the individual's body, for which error correcting forces are applied by the force applying device; at least one dead band portion defining a range of error values for which forces are not applied by the force applying device; at least one transition portion defining a range of error values between the at least one dead band portion and the at least one error augmenting portion of the error regulating profile, for which the forces applied by the force applying device are progressively changed in accordance with the transition between said dead band and error augmenting portions; at least one transition portion defining a range of error values between the at least one dead band portion and the at least one error correcting portion of the error regulating profile, for which the forces applied by the force applying device are progressively changed in accordance with the transition between said dead band and error correction portions. 
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 7  wherein the at least one error augmenting portion comprises at least one constant error augmenting range defining a sub-range of error values associated with the exercise performed by the at least portion of the individual's body, for which the error augmenting forces applied by the force applying device are constant, and/or wherein the at least one error correcting portion comprises at least one constant error correcting range defining a sub-range of error values associated with the exercise performed by the at least portion of the individual's body, for which the error correcting forces applied by the force applying device are constant. 
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the error regulating profile comprises at least one control function defining an attenuation profile for the error regulating profile in accordance with relative progress of movement performed by the at least portion of the individual's body. 
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 7  wherein at least one of the at least one error augmenting portion, the at least one constant error augmenting range, the at least one error correcting portion, the at least one constant error correcting range, the at least one dead band portion, the at least one transition portion, and/or the at least one control function, are determined by the analyzer based on the first and/or second measurement data, and/or the individual-related data, and/or based on user's data inputs. 
     
     
         11 . The system according to  claim 1  comprising a database for storing individual-related data, and/or the force adjustment data, and/or the error regulating profile. 
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the force applying device comprises: one or more motor actuatable arms configured for allowing movement of a hand of the treated individual in at least one of up-down, left-right, and/or forward-backward, directions; a supporting tray coupled to the system and configured to support palm and wrist of the hand of the treated individual; and a handgrip device coupled to said supporting tray and configured for gripping by the palm and fingers of the hand of the treated individual, to thereby facilitate exercise performance by motor impaired individuals. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 12  comprising at least one of the following: a force sensor configured to measure forces operating between the at least portion of the individual's body and the one or more motor actuatable arms, wherein said force sensor is connecting said handgrip device and/or the supporting tray to the one or more motor actuatable arms; a grip sensor device in the handgrip device configured to sense grip strength of the palm and fingers of the treated individual over said handgrip device and generate data/signals indicative thereof; a gimbal-handpiece manipulator attached to the free end of the robotic arm system and configured to enable at least one of pitch, yaw and roll, motion by the handgrip device. 
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 12  wherein the control system comprises an immobilizing module configured to halt operation of the system responsive to signals/data from the grip sensor device, and/or a zero-gravitation module configured to operate the force applying device to apply counter-gravitation forces over the free end of the robotic arm system. 
     
     
         15 . A method for improving individual's motion ability, the method comprising:
 determining force adjustment data based at least in part on individual-related data, said force adjustment data being indicative of a maximal applicable force value applicable to at least a portion of the individual's body for limiting error augmenting forces of a predetermined error regulating profile associated with an exercise performed by the individual;   generating first measurement data comprising error-related data indicative of deviations of said at least portion of the individual's body from a desired trajectory, velocity and/or acceleration associated with said exercise, and second measurement data indicative of adaptive response of the individual to the force applied to said at least portion of the individual's body during the exercise; and   analyzing at least one of the first and second measurement data to determine an average error value, and determining based on said average error value at least one slope of an error-augmenting function or of an error-correcting function of the error regulating profile and its maximal applicable force value, and generating in real-time operational data for effecting said error augmenting forces to apply the force within said range of the error regulating profile.   
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 15  comprising analyzing the measurement data and performing at least one of the following: determining one or more average error values and respective one or more local maximal forces applied by the at least portion of the individual's body, and determining based thereon at least one slope of an error augmenting function or of an error-correcting function of the error regulating profile; determining an average error value and an optimal adaptive force response of the individual to the exercise thereby performed, and determining based on said average error value and optimal adaptive force response at least one slope of an error augmenting function, or of an error-correcting function, of the error regulating profile; defining or adjusting the maximal applicable force value and/or at least one parameter of the error regulating profile. 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 16  comprising defining or adjusting based on the processed measurement data at least one of the following: at least one error augmenting portion of the error regulating profile in which the error augmenting force is to be applied over the at least portion of the individual's body; at least one constant error augmenting range defining a sub-range of error values within the error augmenting portion in which a constant error augmenting force is to be applied over the at least portion of the individual's body; at least one error correction portion of the error regulating profile in which error correcting forces are to be applied over the at least portion of the individual's body; at least one constant error correction range defining a sub-range of error values within the error correction portion in which a constant error correcting force is to be applied over the at least portion of the individual's body. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 16  comprising defining or adjusting based on the processed measurement data: at least one dead band portion of the error regulating profile in which forces are not applied over the at least portion of the individual's body; or at least one transition portion of the error regulating profile in which forces applied over the at least portion of the individual's body progressively change in accordance with changes of error values of the error-related data. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 16  comprising: determining based on the error-related data an average error value for performance of the exercise without application of error regulating forces; processing the measurement data comprising the error-related data in association with the individual's performance of an exercise performed with the error regulating forces applied in accordance with the error regulating profile, and determining based thereon at least one of adaptive response of the individual and an average error value for performance of the exercise with application of the error regulating forces; adjusting the determined maximal applicable force value based on a comparison between the determined average error value for performance of the exercise with and without application of the error regulating forces. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 19  comprising processing the measurement data comprising the error-related data indicative of deviations of the at least portion of the individual's body from a desired trajectory of a further exercise performed with error regulating forces applied in accordance with the error regulating profile, and determining based thereon at least one of adaptive response of the individual and an average error value for performance of the exercise with application of error regulating forces. 
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 20  comprising repeating the processing of the measurement data comprising the error-related data in association with the individual's performance of the further exercise performed with the error regulating forces applied in accordance with the error regulating profile until either: (i) the determined adaptive response and/or average error value for performance of the exercise with application of the error regulating forces is indicative of an acceptable progress level in performance of the exercise; or (ii) a number of times the exercise performed with the application of the error regulating forces equals a predetermined number. 
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 15  comprising defining a control function configured to progressively attenuate the error regulating forces applied to the at least portion of the individual's body during the exercise with respect to a distance from the body of said individual. 
     
     
         23 . A method for determining competence of an individual to a motion improving treatment, the method comprising:
 providing an error regulating profile defining at least one interfering force segment in which error augmenting forces are applied over at least one body portion of said individual during performance of an exercise, and a maximal applicable force value limiting the error augmenting forces of said error regulating profile;   measuring error-related data indicative of deviations of the at least portion of the individual's body from a desired trajectory, velocity and/or acceleration, associated with an exercise without application of the error regulating forces defined by said error regulating profile, and determining an average error value for exercise performance without application of error regulating forces based thereon;   measuring error-related data in association with the individual's performance of the exercise with real-time application of the error regulating forces defined by said error regulating profile, and determining an average error value for exercise performance with real-time application of error regulating forces based thereon; and   determining said competence based on a relation between the average error values determined for exercise performance with and without the error regulating forces.   
     
     
         24 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the at least one interfering force segment for which error augmenting forces are applied in real-time by the force applying device is determined in accordance with a predetermined range of an error regulating profile and directions of forces applied by the at least portion of the individual's body and derived from the first and/or the second measurement data from the sensing system.